More strife for Cameron as now Lord Tebbit speaks out in favour of Gordon Brown

Last updated at 11:50 26 September 2007

David Cameron has received another blow to his credibility from the unlikely source of Lord Tebbit.

The senior Tory figure criticised the Old Etonian for being out of touch with ordinary people and not supporting grammar schools.

In contrast, he praised Gordon Brown for his 'principled conduct', and suggested he was the real 'heir' to Margaret Thatcher.

He said the Prime Minister's decision to meet Lady Thatcher for tea was 'a wonderful mixture of his courtesy and political nous'.

"After all, Cameron described himself as the 'heir to Blair'.

It is only natural that Brown should make himself the 'heir to Thatcher.

"I'm quite sure that Margaret Thatcher knew exactly what she was doing.

"She's first too well-mannered to rebuff the Prime Minister and second, of course, the present Conservative leadership has been at great pains to distance himself from her - and she is, after all, a woman.

"I think he (Brown) is a clever man and I have a very considerable regard for him," Mr Tebbit said in an interview in The Time Magazine, to be published on Saturday.

He added: "David (Cameron) and his colleagues - the very clever young men they have in Central Office these days - are very intellectually clever but they have no experience of the world whatsoever.

"He (Cameron) has spent much of his time in the Conservative Party and as a public relations guy.

"Well, it's not the experience of most people in the streets.

"That's the real attack and that's damaging to him, I think," in an interview with the Times magazine to be published on Saturday.